“At present, our inventory can barely last for one year. If we haven’t found a domestic alternative after one year, we will have to stop production, or risk a drop in yield and go ahead with it.”

Shanghai, SinoChip International.

Mr. Liang said worriedly: “Chip design is not a big problem. Xuanwu EDA has a high degree of completion, but no matter what, the designed chip is just a PPT and it still needs to be put into practice in the end.”

At present, the domestic chip supply chain has achieved breakthroughs in some areas, but several key links still rely on foreign imports, especially in high-end chip manufacturing, core equipment and materials, and specific chip design tools. There are significant shortcomings.

Chen Pingjiang’s Tianyuan Capital’s early investment in domestic chip industry chains was effective, but it was still not enough to overturn the gap of many years.

Mr. Meng also said: “Currently, China’s chip self-sufficiency rate is about 40%, and high-end chips are completely dependent on imports. Now Samsung and TSMC have successfully mass-produced 7 nanometers, and we can’t stop catching up for a moment. Fortunately, there is hope for a breakthrough in the 14 nanometer manufacturing process, but the higher 7 nanometer is mysterious, and the lithography machine is always a hurdle that cannot be avoided.”

He changed the subject, “But if we use multiple exposure technology, we should be able to achieve 7 nanometers through DUV.”

The good news is that Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. and Changxin Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. made their plans two years in advance, so DRAM and NAND flash memory chips no longer need to be imported through Samsung and Hynix.

The bad news is that RF chips and FPGA chips still cannot be solved.

“The domestic alternative to RF chips is Visionox’s products, but the yield rate is a big problem.”

To put it simply, FPGA chip is a logic chip, which is translated as field programmable gate array.

FPGA is widely used in communication base stations and industrial control fields, but domestic manufacturers such as Tsinghua Unigroup and Anlu Technology are still in the stage of technological catching up, and their market share is almost monopolized by Xilinx and Intel.

Although I had long anticipated that the breakthrough process would be extremely difficult, I only realized how difficult it was once I really got into it.

This is like a programmer writing code. If there is anything wrong, the program will not run in the end.

The field of semiconductor materials is also full of difficulties.

12-inch silicon wafers mainly rely on Japanese companies such as Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO, and the localization rate is less than 20%.

Domestic alternatives include Shanghai Silicon Industry and Zhonghuan Semiconductor.

The former achieved small-scale mass production of 12-inch silicon wafers last year, but is still in the stage of technology verification and capacity ramp-up; the latter has achieved stable supply in the 8-inch silicon wafer field.

The worst is photoresist, especially ARF and EUV level photoresist.

High-end photoresists are almost entirely dependent on Japanese companies (such as TOK, JSR, and Shin-Etsu Chemical), and the localization rate is less than 5%.

Nanjing University of Science and Technology Optoelectronics has launched an ArF photoresist research and development project, but it has not yet entered mass production; Shanghai Xinyang’s KrF photoresist is in the verification stage; Jingrui Electric Materials’ g/i line photoresist has been used in mid- and low-end chips.

In addition, there are special gases, polishing materials, sputtering targets and advanced packaging materials.

Chen Pingjiang has previously cultivated Walter Gas, Anjie Technology, Jiangfeng Electronics and Feikai Materials, which can all become alternatives, but they are still the same old problems.

Insufficient purity and stability, and long verification cycle!
Of course……

The good news is not without it.

For example, Jiangfeng Electronics’ target material market share ranks among the top five in the world, making it a core supplier to SMIC and Samsung.

For example, Anjie Technology’s CMP polishing liquid broke the monopoly of the United States and Japan and entered the 14nm production line.

For example, Nanjing University of Science and Technology’s ArF photoresist project has gradually entered mass production.

Mr. Liang said with emotion: “Fortunately, you had the foresight a few years ago and supported a group of domestic enterprises first, otherwise we would face even more troubles, but I always have confidence.”

Chen Pingjiang smiled implicitly.

He never worries about the future of domestic chips.

Even if we follow the original timeline, by the 24th year, domestically produced mature chips will have a major breakthrough, with export sales reaching $ billion.

All that is lacking is time. If each link improves a little, the sum of the improvements will be a huge progress.

……

……

Two days later, Chen Pingjiang had rushed from Shanghai to the northernmost tip of the motherland.

On the campus of Harbin Institute of Technology, Chen Pingjiang met Zhao Yongpeng.

“Haha, Mr. Chen, even though this is our first meeting, we seem to have known each other for a long time.”

Zhao Yongpeng shook hands warmly with Chen Pingjiang.

Chen Pingjiang smiled and said, “Professor Zhao, you don’t have to be polite. Just call me Xiao Chen. I came here today to express my gratitude for your outstanding contribution.”

Chen Pingjiang said you’re welcome, but Zhao Yongpeng didn’t dare to really call him Xiao Chen and just thought it was a polite remark.

“You should also get half of the credit. If it weren’t for your previous support and assistance in many aspects, we wouldn’t be so successful.” Zhao Yongpeng waved his hand, “Let’s go to the laboratory and take a look.”

Before Chen Pingjiang arrived at Harbin Institute of Technology, he had already informed the school authorities and hoped that the matter would be handled in a low-key manner, which is why he did not attract attention.

The reason I came here this time is entirely because Zhao Yongpeng’s team successfully developed the “discharge plasma extreme ultraviolet lithography light source”.

Chen Pingjiang has been following this project for several years, providing funding of no less than 2000 million yuan and stating that he does not want any intellectual property rights. Now the time has finally come for it to bear fruit.

Inside the spacious and bright laboratory.

Chen Pingjiang, wearing a dust-free suit and a mask, listened carefully to Zhao Yongpeng’s introduction.

“Before the demonstration, I need to say something. The focal power of the light source of this machine is only 43 watts, which is a huge gap compared with the 250-500 watts of the latest two generations of EUV light sources of ASML. It can only be called the laboratory stage at present, but our team is confident that the power can be increased to 200 watts within two years.”

Chen Pingjiang nodded to show his understanding.

After all, in EUV, the light source is only a part, and hundreds of thousands of other parts are needed to work together.

But anyway, the most critical part has been solved.

In the current EUV lithography technology, there are two lithography technology routes.

One is the DPP scheme (discharge produced plasma), and the other is the LPP scheme (laser produced plasma).

Currently, the only company in the world that can produce EUV lithography machines and has monopolized the global high-end lithography machine market, the Dutch company ASML, adopts the LPP solution.

The “Discharge Plasma Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Light Source” of Harbin Institute of Technology adopts the DPP scheme as its name suggests.

One of the biggest problems with the DPP solution is the insufficient focal power of the light source.

The light source of the photolithography machine is used to burn stone (single crystal silicon). If the power is insufficient, it will not burn and the chip cannot be etched.

Fortunately, due to patent restrictions, China’s current research on EUV lithography machines using the DPP solution is easier than using the LPP solution.

Although the current DPP solution is not yet commercially available and cannot be used on EUV lithography machines, the DPP solution technology will improve.

The DPP solution itself has considerable advantages, such as stable light source, low cleanliness requirements, and lower cost.

Moreover, Chen Pingjiang will not put all his eggs in one basket.

In addition to Harbin Institute of Technology, the XX Institute of Optoelectronics and a research institute in Shanghai also received funding, but everyone’s progress and routes were different.

If any of them achieves a final breakthrough, it will greatly advance the time for the domestic EUV lithography machine to come out. (End of this chapter)